Nevertheless I worked myself up pretty good over the seventh installment of the Harry Potter series. A self-dubbed "Harry Pot-head" for several years now, I looked upon the release of the latest and last book with both excitement and trepidation. After all, it would be my last adventure with many old and wonderful friends. On the other hand the magical world was on the brink of war and much was at stake. I had to know how it all ended and I had to know fast, as did millions of others around the world.

J.K. Rowling's flair for humor and adventure, peppered with surprise is always a delight to read. This book did not suffer from over-hype. Reading it was like knowing that the biggest Christmas present under the tree is all yours -- and then opening it and finding that it is exactly what you were hoping for.

This book challenged its characters as well as its audience. Dumbledore, who in the first couple of books was quite simple: wise, kind and all-knowing, was perhaps the most challenged of all. His past comes tumbling out, leaving both the reader and Harry wondering whom the kind, bearded wizard really was. We hope against hope that Rita Skeeter has again gotten her facts wrong, but for the first time ever she seems to have gotten them right -- well, some of them anyway. Are we disappointed in Dumbledore? Maybe a little at first, but the broader lesson is that we are all human, good and bad and always, always a little bit of both.

Same goes for the Malfoy family. In the final chapters, Lucius and Narcissa find that the only thing that's important to them is getting their son back. We muggles can certainly relate to that. And Draco himself tries (albeit half-heartedly) to save the lives of Ron, Harry and Hermione when they are caught by the snatchers.

Many of us hoped that Harry would come of age and find that he had huge magical powers that would help him battle the Dark Lord. But as the books progressed it became clearer and clearer that Harry was just a boy upon whom greatness was bestowed. This made his defeat of Voldemort that much sweeter, and is what set him apart from Dumbledore.

Dumbledore and Voldemort were actually very similar, although on separate ends of the spectrum -- both were powerful wizards and both sought greatness in the wizard world. Harry, however, after being raised by the Dursleys and having lived in a cupboard, was simply happy to be a wizard. He was overjoyed to find friends in Hagrid, Hermione and Ron. It is this mindset -- not extraordinary power -- that saves the wizarding world, and ultimately brings Harry back to life. As Dumbledore says, "I always knew you were a better person than me, Harry."

The book has many special moments, some only for the truest of fans. Towards the end Ron is struggling to climb the Whomping Willow and complains that he wishes Crookshanks were there to help. "Ron, are you a wizard or aren't you?" comes Hermione's frustrated response. Harry Potter superfans will recognize this line from book one when Hermione complained that she needed wood to start a fire and Ron screams at her, "Have you gone mad? Are you a witch or not?"

A moving moment is found when, on his deathbed, Snape asks Harry to look into his eyes. Throughout the books it is commonly known that Harry has the eyes of his mother. In the very next chapter we find out that Snape and Lily were the best of friends until their huge falling out when Snape called Lily a mudblood. This sheds new light on book six's chapter -- Snape's Worst Memory.

Book seven is Rowling's masterpiece. Were there loose ends? Of course, but such is life. Was the epilogue cheesy? A little bit. But for many it was a much-needed catharsis for Harry's seven years of toil towards a normal life. And of course there are a few things that work out just too perfectly to be quite believable - Ron just figures out how to speak Parcel Tongue? Dumbledore's brother works at Hogsmeade? And why didn't Ron, Harry and Hermione kill all the horcruxes with magical fire? Even these are easily explained and nothing is so glaring that it ruins the beauty and integrity of the series.

The middle of the book drags a little when Ron, Harry and Hermione are camping and moving around with no real intention. Their quibbling gets annoying after awhile and Rob's abrupt exit seems a bit perfunctory.

The death toll in this book reaches an astronomical peak. Taunted with leaks, most readers were expecting at least two characters to die -- hopefully Snape and Voldemort. But by the end there are so many friends gone that it's almost hard to deal with -- Fred, Tonks, Lupin, Dobby, Mad Eye and even little Colin Creavy have all given their lives for Harry. But Rowling handles these deaths quite well; she doesn't waste words or emotional upheaval on the fallen friends -- there is work to be done and the Dark Lord to defeat. As long as Harry can do that these deaths will not have been in vain. It is this knowledge that gives Harry the power and the presence of mind to take that fateful walk in the woods.

Perhaps the whole series is best summed up by a conversation that Harry and Hermione had way back in Book One: "`Harry -- you're a great wizard, you know.' `I'm not as good as you,' said Harry, very embarrassed, as she let him go. `Me!' said Hermione. `Books! And cleverness! There are more important things -- friendship and bravery and -- oh Harry -- be careful!'"